Merry Christmas!

**NO EMAIL FROM SISTER BAIRD THIS WEEK**

As a family, we had a chance to Skype with her and truly see how much she has grown. It is simply amazing! 

Here are some pictures from our Skype time with her. ENJOY!

Baird Family picture with Sister Baird and the whole family!
(Look closely as we even had Tim on FaceTime on a phone!)

Sister Baird was so happy watching Arabella, her niece!

**BONUS**
This past week, the California Sacramento Mission got together and had a Mission Christmas party. Patrick Twomey, our resident SUPER STAR photographer extraordinaire was in attendance, therefore, we were provided some amazing shots. Enjoy!
 

Elk Grove Zone

Some of the Elk Grove Zone

Elk Grove Zone - showing off the Elk Grove Shirts!

Elk Grove Zone

Sister Baird - being Sister Baird

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson - paying attention intently! 

Sister Baird - conducting a musical number at the Mission Christmas party!

Sister Baird - conducting a musical number at the Mission Christmas party!

Elk Grove Zone - performing a skit

Talk in Church, Christmas Party and a Christmas miracle!

Hey all!! 

I am not sure I will be able to email next week so I will say it now...

MERRY CHRISTMAS ADAM! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE! 

AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 

If you don't get it, one day I will explain it to you.:) Christmas is the best!! 

For this week, I am just going to go through some of the highlights that happened. So yes! We had Church yesterday AND Sister Simpson and I got to speak! It was great. I actually love speaking in church. Ask me why? I have no idea. We got to speak on Christmas and how the Atonement relates to it. I  loved it. We also got to sing with the Ward choir! We also had a little miracle on Sunday (not the Christmas one yet..) but we had this lady come to church who we found out was a member, but has been struggling for quite some time. She came all on her own! It was amazing and such an example to me. 

Then we had the Ward Christmas party on Saturday! Oh so fun! Some how we got the job to chase all the little kids around the gym for 20 minutes - so that's fine. I am not complaining ahah. Don't worry, I did not hold any children! It was tough, but I pushed through! 

And time for the Christmas miracle!! 

So to start, this transfer I have been studying a lot on Faith. Our Mission has had a focus on the idea that each companionship has the opportunity to baptize every transfer. At the beginning of this transfer, we had hope, but with the Thao's falling off date, I was definitely struggling to have the Faith. Well, earlier this week, I made the decision to trust God and have Faith. So, I turned to Sister Simpson and said "we are going to have a baptism this transfer". Heavenly Father said we could, so we are. She said okay and just went with it. Well, we got to meet with our investigator Gary and he is NOW ON DATE FOR JANUARY 6!! That is the last Saturday of the transfer!! Heavenly Father truly does provide when you have the Faith!!

I love you all and encourage you to remember the true meaning of the season. Merry Christmas you beautiful people!!

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

Sister Baird and Sister Simpson
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

11/18th of the way there!

Good Morning Baltimore!!!!!! 

I have zero reason as to why I chose that opener besides that fact that I just sang it and it is a good song. Smiles. 

Okay so I am going to try and keep this one a little shorter because I want to try and get a few more individual emails out. 

Exciting news is that we have a new investigator named Gary. He is awesome!! He was a referral from Elders in Rancho and now he is our investigator and accepted conditional baptism. We have high hopes for him and we hope to be giving you great news in the near future. 

In other news, we got to go to the Live Nativity in Folsom and I got to see a whole bunch of my former members and it was amazing. On top of that, I got to see Sister Rowley and Sister Wong. So, I got to have all three of my "daughters" in one place and I got to meet my "granddaughter".

I have a request to let everyone know that Elder Schwenson says 'hello'! He is pretty great. He broke his foot and loves Christmas music. You basically are his best friend now. :)

We had exchanges this week and I got to be with Hermana Quizon.

Sister Baird and Hermana Quizon

It was different being in Spanish work, but it was a fun experience and we were able to get the Hermanas a new investigator!

Sorry this week is not super exciting, but I want you all to know how much I love being on a mission. I hit 11 months and it is definitely surreal, but I am grateful for the chance to serve. Best decision. Especially since I never thought it was a decision I would make. 

Sister Baird and Hermana Barrera - 11 month mark!

I love going along with the Light the World and want each of you to go along with it as well. I promise it will bless your life. 

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird

Smoreos at Vampire Penguin!

Vampire Penguin together with Hermana Quizon and her companion!
(and Sister Baird and Sister Simpson!) 

P-Day with Hermana Berrara and Hermana Singer

Lighting the World

Hello beautiful Lights in the world,

Just like every other missionary in the world, I am going to first say just how much I love this Light the World video this year. I won't spend a lot of time talking about it, but if you have not seen it, please go look and watch now. Also watch and participate in the 25 ways in 25 days. It is the best!! We were able to surprise bake a brownie, that looks like a cake for a member on the first day. I love seeing the joy it brought to them. Something so simple, brought so much joy!

This week has been a roller coaster in a way. The first part of the week went pretty well. We were going about doing 'normal missionary work' when we found 2 new investigators!! Then, on Thursday, we had Zone Conference. I seriously love Zone Conference. Just when you need a boost - it is there. We had a training by the Assistants to President and they showed a video called "Missionary Work and the Atonement". I cry every single time I watch it. If you get a chance to watch it, please do. It is amazing. 

Elk Grove Zone at Zone Conference

Sister Baird at Zone Conference
President Hymas on far Right
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

Sister Baird sliding into a picture at Zone Conference.
*Photo Credit to Patrick Twomey

After that, things became a bit rough throughout the remainder of the week. Appointment after appointment fell through, then after many attempts, we had no one attend church again. It was not an easy thing, but we are trusting that things will happen in the Lord's time.

We then started our day off by receiving a text from the Thao's wanting to postpone their baptism. That broke my heart a bit, but we are not giving up on them. Our next step is to figure out how to help them move forward.

Was it the best week of my mission? No, but that is okay. It wasn't the worst either. 

We got to help decorate a tree.

Decorating Christmas decorations is a favorite pastime!

 I got ornaments to decorate from my family. I get to share the Light of Christ with all those around me. There are always moments of joy, even in the hard times. 

So this week, remember to have joy and Light the World because this world could always use a little more light, especially the Light of Christ. 

Also, Christmas Devotional was very good, I recommend!! 

I love and miss you all. What are your favorite Christmas traditions?

Much Love Always,

Sister MJ Baird